


Proper Pearl Maintenance

by a_big_apple



Series: and it's bright [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crying, F/F, Gem Sex, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:22:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22669990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_big_apple/pseuds/a_big_apple
Summary: In the midst of falling sweetly and poetically in love, Pearl and Volleyball get intimate and Pearl reflects. (A missing scene from"So here's the part where you make a choice.")
Relationships: Pearl/Pink Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Pearl/Pink Diamond’s Original Pearl | Volleyball, Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)
Series: and it's bright [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619890
Comments: 18
Kudos: 117





	Proper Pearl Maintenance

**Author's Note:**

> In one of the grand traditions of fanfiction, I wrote something pretty with a lot of feelings and some fade-to-black intimacy, then later went back and wrote the missing sex scene because I got interested in theorizing on Gem sex. Then this straightforward sex scene caught feelings, and here we are. You don't need to read the fic this comes from, I don't think, but if you're into this ship then maybe check it out!

Volleyball is gratifyingly eager and adaptive. She learns everything Pearl can teach her about kissing almost as soon as Pearl tries it; unneeded but satisfying shared breaths, shifting angles, the strangely electric slide of their tongues and little nips of teeth. Pearl thinks, flushed and pressed all along Volley’s body, of other human things she might teach her.

Pearl didn’t always want to be intimate that way, with Rose—the messy, sticky, invasive human way—but Rose loved it when she acquiesced. Rose loved changing the form she’d adopted, creating acres of decadent skin underneath her clothes, funny human genitalia and nerves that connected these new pleasure centers. She loved letting Pearl uncover every inch of uncharted territory, climb her like a mountain and explore what sounds she could make. Sometimes Pearl changed too, trying different variations; sometimes she kept her form the same, every part of it shivering in delight just watching and hearing Rose’s pleasure, feeling her writhe under Pearl’s hands.

It was new; they were new. Rose had never touched her Before, as Pink—Pearl knows now that the careful distance was fear of breaking her. Their double life was a struggle, but they had the comforts of each other. Things changed, after they faked her shattering.

They were grieving, so many and so much at once. Rose threw herself into their missions, threw herself into experiencing the unique delights of the Earth. Pearl tried to keep up, tried to see what Rose saw, but in spite of everything she missed their home. She missed the tender Gem intimacy between them that had been subsumed by human things, human lovemaking, human _partners_ , fleeting as they were. Her gem ached with wanting, her fingers strayed sometimes to the Diamond in Rose’s belly, but Rose only wanted to forget. 

In the years since Steven there had been a few human women. She tried to play the field, to find some solace in them, and at least she had practice in their kinds of encounters. If any of them wondered why she kept her “clothes” on, they never asked, and Pearl drifted away from these efforts unsatisfied. Her heart wasn’t ready for a lasting romance; her body wasn’t ready for what they wanted, and she didn’t want to explain what she craved. 

Even now, in Volley’s clutching arms, her mind turns to _human_ ways. And the kissing is...she could never regret learning about kissing. Her whole form trembles with _want_ , a desire she can’t articulate while Volleyball is making such delicious sounds under Pearl’s mouth. A soft moan that vibrates between them, a questioning note when Pearl turns away that warbles higher when Pearl kisses the column of her throat and down the length of her neckline. Then she feels the flutter of a breath and the warm press of a kiss against her gem, and that’s, _that’s—_

It startles a shocked moan out of her, and her hand slides around Volley’s waist to find her gem, brushing it with trembling fingers, a question. 

The answer is clear when Volley tips Pearl onto her back, slides over her to press her belly against Pearl’s form with a soft, hungry sound. Pearl wraps around her instantly, holding her there, grip tightening at the slow rub of Volley’s cheek against her gem. It’s so _much_ and not enough, so contextually _intimate_ that Pearl can only gasp out a breath and hide her flaming face in Volley’s neck. 

Volley presses another kiss there, openmouthed, and the tiny kitten lick of her tongue is so shocking Pearl’s whole body jolts; with sudden strength Volley presses her down into the grass, her back arching and her gem hot against Pearl’s abdomen, and swipes her tongue in a scorching curve. 

Overcome, Pearl’s hands scrabble at Volley’s shoulders even as she cranes her head up into the feeling, arches against Volley’s gem as it rubs deliciously against her. When Volley moans, low and urgent, it vibrates through Pearl like a plucked violin string. “ _Please—_ ” Pearl begs, in a voice that barely sounds like her own, and Volley moans again, smearing her face and lips and tongue over Pearl’s gem with artless urgency. She can feel the heat of her pearl and Volley’s both, can see the glow brightening between them when her eyes flutter open. Volley writhes in her hold, crying out, and Pearl closes her eyes against the flash; then Volley goes limp in her arms, panting. 

Pearl tips them back onto their sides, limbs all tangled, forces her eyes back open to see Volley’s face as she clings to her. She looks blissed out, like she’s floating, her eye half-lidded as it finds Pearl’s gaze, and Pearl just has to kiss her. Volley giggles into her mouth, wriggling in her grip; then buries both hands in Pearl’s hair and returns to her gem with sudden, assiduous attention. 

“ _Ah!_ ” Every inch of her lights up with renewed pleasure, building so hot and fast she can barely move, straining toward _something_ she hasn’t had in so, so long—

“You’re safe,” Volley is whispering against her gem, rubbing her cheek and open mouth against it. “I’ve got you, you can let go.”

The words burst something open inside of her and Pearl arches, a cry ripped from her throat as her gem flashes searingly bright; she’s awash with pleasure, _incredible_ pleasure, and old, old pain. She pants under the onslaught, coming back to herself and her limbs and Volley cradling her close, and it’s just too much at once. A sob cracks out of her, and a torrent follows as she’s tucked firmly against Volley’s chest.

“That’s it,” Volley murmurs, her voice wet and wobbly. “Layers and layers.” They rock together, gentle as Pearl wails hard enough to scrape her throat; she hears the words, feels arms around her, but for a long while she’s lost. It builds, panicky, then wanes, sliding away like the tide and leaving her drained and loose-limbed. 

“Volleyball,” she says at last, swallowing against the rasp of her voice. “I’m—”

“Don’t,” Volley says, firm and sure. “That was incredible. All of it. You needed it, and I needed it, and now that we’ve gotten through it, let’s rub gems a _lot_ in the future please.”

Pearl snorts a laugh, scrubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. “ _Rub gems_? Is that what they call it on Homeworld?”

Volley giggles and kisses her flushed cheeks and, gently, her mouth. “What do you call it on Earth?”

“Sex,” Pearl tells her with another laugh. She feels...shockingly light. Like if she wasn’t so exhausted, she might float away. 

“Proper pearl maintenance,” Volley suggests with a deadpan sweetness. 

“Flashdancing.”

“Hmm.”

“Sorry, Earth reference. But I think you would like that movie.”

“What’s a movie?”

With a laugh Pearl pulls Volley close again. “I’ll show you. I’ll show you all sorts of things.”

Volley leans in for another kiss, purrs against Pearl’s mouth. “I’m looking forward to it.”


End file.
